Infosys in Focus on Buzz of Winning Contract for GST Network

Infosys shares edged higher by 0.30 per cent on Monday after reports, citing sources, said the IT major has bagged the contract for building the goods and services tax (GST) network across the country for rolling out of the new indirect tax regime.

Reports pegged the value of the contract at Rs 1,320 crore. The government plans to implement the GST, which would subsume central excise, service tax and other local levies, from April 1, 2016. Despite the inability of the government of pass the GST bill in the monsoon session of Parliament, Finance Minister has expressed optimism about rolling out the new tax regime next year.

The government had floated the request for proposal for setting up GST network on April 21; July 6 was the closing date for bidding.

A Press Trust of India, citing sources, had earlier said that TCS, Wipro, Tech Mahindra and Microsoft were the other bidders for setting up the GST network. A strong technology backbone is essential for successful roll-out of single rate GST across the country.

However, Infosys shares gave up gains in afternoon trade amid weak broader markets. As of 2:14 p.m., shares of Infosys traded 0.2 per cent lower at Rs 1,102. In comparison, the Nifty was down 0.3 while the BSE IT index was also down 0.3 per cent.